


Happy Birthday Echo!

by echojulien



Category: Lego Ninjago, Ninjago - Fandom
Genre: Echo's Birthday 2020, Gen, There are other characters, but they either have minor speaking parts, or no speaking parts at all
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-15
Updated: 2020-07-15
Packaged: 2021-03-05 06:14:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,157
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25259806
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/echojulien/pseuds/echojulien
Summary: It's been exactly one year since Echo's transfer into a new body. His plans for the day consist of visiting Cyrus and Pixal for his final check up, and going to Skylor's with Zane afterwards.But he's in for a surprise.(For "Echo's Birthday 2020" on Tumblr!)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 19





	Happy Birthday Echo!

It was quiet.

_ Too _ quiet.

Echo jolted up in bed and frantically looked around. When he realized that he was still aboard the  _ Destiny’s Bounty _ \--and not in the lighthouse--he sighed in relief.

“Is everything alright?”

Echo jumped at the unexpected voice. Once he recovered, he leaned over the guardrail of his bed. Below it, on his own bed, was Zane.

“Sorry,” the elder Nindroid said. “I did not mean to startle you.”

“It’s okay. I just...didn’t know you were in here.”

“Considering your bed is above mine,” Zane said in an amused tone, “that makes sense.”

Echo rolled his eyes and went back to sitting on his bed. After a few moments, he moved toward the ladder and climbed down.

As he was gathering his clothes for the day, Zane spoke again. “You never answered my question.”

“Which was…?”

“Is everything okay?”

“Oh. Yeah, everything’s fine. I just...thought I was in the lighthouse again...because of how quiet it was. "

Zane closed his book and sat it in his lap. "Echo--”

“I’m sorry. None of you have given me any reason to think you’d abandon me back at the lighthouse. And nothing has happened to make me believe I'm still in the lighthouse and imagined all this."

"Echo."

"It's just...the upper floor was so quiet. Sure, Gizmo and I could make noise, but it wasn't the same. And being down near the ocean was okay for a while, but eventually it made me realize how isolated we were, and that there was very little chance of us escaping."

"Echo."

"But now we're surrounded by almost constant noise, so on the odd occasion when it's quiet, I think I'm back in the lighthouse. I know it's not fair to you, but--"

“Echo!”

The younger Julien stopped mid-sentence and turned to look at Zane, who was now standing behind him with a hand on his shoulder.

Now that he had Echo’s attention, Zane’s posture relaxed and his expression softened. "Echo, you have nothing to be sorry for.  _ I _ am the one who should be apologizing.”

“You?”

“Yes. I have known about your reaction to silence, but I have not made any attempts to help you. I will remedy that though. Perhaps I could get you a white noise machine? They are normally used to help with sleep, but you could use it for background noise to keep things from becoming too quiet." A small alarm went off in Zane’s head, and he dismissed it. “Of course, that will have to be  _ after _ your final check up with Cyrus and Pixal.”

Echo beamed. “I can’t believe it’s been a year already!”

Zane chuckled. “Neither can I. Now, go and get ready--we do not want to be late.”

*******

Roughly two hours later, Echo’s check up was complete. Cyrus gave him a clean bill of health, then apologized--he and Pixal had some personal errands to run.

Zane and Echo told them that they understood, then thanked them for everything and said goodbye.

Outside Borg Tower, Echo turned to Zane. “Are we going to Skylor’s now?”

“Not today I’m afraid.”

“But...we always go after seeing Cyrus and Pixal.”

“I know, but Skylor closed the restaurant today--some old pipes are being replaced and a new dishwasher is being installed.”

The bit of sadness that had crept onto Echo’s face disappeared, and a look of thoughtfulness replaced it. “Oh, well, that’s a good reason. We don’t want what happened to Lou to happen to Skylor--there’s no way the  _ Bounty _ can serve as a restaurant.”

The thought of trying to run a restaurant out of the  _ Bounty _ made Zane laugh, and after a moment, Echo laughed along with him.

When they were done laughing, Zane ruffled Echo's synthetic hair. "Come on little brother. We might not be going to Skylor's, but we do have a stop to make before going home."

"And where's that?"

"Honeydew's."

*******

The detour to Honeydew’s didn’t take long, and before they knew it, they were back to the  _ Bounty _ .

Zane set the items he had been carrying on the dock, then turned to Echo. “Head up on deck and activate the pulley system.”

Echo gave a small salute, then climbed the rope ladder. Once on deck, he went over to the pulley system’s controls. After making sure the chains were connected to both the grocery crate and the hook, he took the controls and carefully lowered the crate to Zane. Moments later, and both Zane and the crate were safely aboard the  _ Bounty _ .

Echo stood by and hummed as Zane removed the items from the crate. He had tried to help, but Zane told him not to worry about it.

When the crate was empty, the two of them moved toward the kitchen door. Since Zane had his hands full, Echo stepped in front of him and opened it.

“Surprise!”

Echo jumped slightly at the noise, but quickly recovered. He took a moment to take in the scene--the remaining five Ninja, their families, Pixal, Cyrus, and Skylor were all gathered in the kitchen, which was decorated with streamers, balloons, and a large, black banner with “Happy Birthday Echo!” painted on it in colors close to copper, gold, and rust. He frowned. “I do not understand.”

Lloyd smiled. “It’s a surprise party!”

“For your birthday,” Cole added.

Echo thought about what he knew about birthdays. For humans, it tended to be the day they were born. For some Nindroids--like Zane and Pixal--they used the term for the date they were activated. That could’ve worked for him too, but no one knew when he was activated--by the time it happened, Dr. Julien had stopped keeping track of the days, and without that or a calendar, there was no way of knowing the date of Echo’s activation.

So what were the Ninja talking about?

At Echo’s silence, Zane placed the bags he was holding on the floor near the wall, and placed a hand on Echo’s shoulder. “Since we do not know the date of your activation, we decided to use the date of your transfer.”

“You  _ all _ knew about this? What about the errands Cyrus and Pixal had to run? Or Skylor’s restaurant being closed for pipe replacement?”

“White lies.” Zane paused. “Well, at least the pipe replacement part is for Skylor. Her restaurant  _ is _ closed today, but only so she could be here.”

Echo slowly looked around the room. All these people took time out of their lives to plan and set up a party for  _ him _ . Put aside their work, training, or whatever else to give  _ him _ a special day.

Artificial tears of happiness began to well up in his eyes, and his previously confused expression turned into a smile.

Seeing his change, the other Ninja separated from the group and gathered around Echo. Then--along with Zane--they enveloped him in a group hug.

“Happy Birthday Echo!”

**Author's Note:**

> Despite starting early, I was a little pressed for time, but I think it turned out alright. Next year I'll try to have better time managment.
> 
> Thank you for reading!


End file.
